5 Easy Steps to Becoming Awesome
by Optimistically-Hopeless
Summary: After a particularly bad day, both Prussia and Canada realize that the other has something that they don't. After making a deal, they decide to try to help each other out. Will Canada finally get noticed and will Prussia become a country again? PruCan
1. Lesson 0: Introductions

So, as I was talking to my friend Starry, she said that she was a fan of PruCan. I've always been more of a Franada fan, but as I started thinking about it, PruCan could be pretty cute too. :) And as I've written it, I almost think I'm more of a PruCan fan than Franada fan. They're so adorable! X3

This one's for you, Starry! :D

I hope you like it! Please review! ^_^

x-x-x-x-x

Today was yet another awesome day as Prussia strolled down the hall towards the World Meeting room. Hands buried in pockets, he hummed an amazing little tune that he had come up with by himself as he watched the walls pass him by. There was a world meeting today, so he figured he might as well jump in and give his amazingly awesome opinion. Sure, he wasn't exactly a country anymore, but that didn't make him any less awesome! The only reason that people had made him stop being a country was because they were all extremely overwhelmed by his mass amount of pure awesomeness! It was too much for their not-nearly-as-awesome brains to comprehend!

Besides, West was going to be here; and he could never pass up an opportunity to annoy his little brother.

"Kesesese!" he laughed in excitement as he rubbed his hands together. "West's gonna be so pissed! It's going to be epically awesome! Just like me!" He almost started skipping at the thought of West's glare—except awesome people _totally_ don't skip!

Today was going to be _awesome!_

x-x-x-x-x

Today was yet another horrible day. Canada sat in his chair as England was in the process of trying to strangle France yet again. America just laughed at the two, actually pulling out a camera as he filmed it, saying something about it going to be the best Youtube video in history. Germany looked like he had finally decided to give up on trying to keep order in the meeting as he laid his head against his palms. Italy lightly patted him on the back, trying to give some words of comfort, which looked like they were only depressing the German further. Russia looked far too happy with the violence going on, reaching for his pipe as if he wanted to join in. China and Japan were off in their own corner, both talking of how Western cultures were so annoying, yet so very entertaining.

While all of this was going on, absolutely none of them noticed Canada. Like usual. He held Kumakichi closer to him as he gave a sigh. "Why do they always have to fight?" he asked himself. He really didn't like watching people fight—it always made him depressed that the world was just going downhill.

Kumoshiro looked up at him like it was the first time he'd ever seen him. "Huh?" the bear said curiously. "Who are you?"

Canada looked down at the bear with a frown on his face. "You're never going to remember my name, are you, Kilimanjaro?"

"Where is Canada anyway?"

Canada jumped at hearing his name, looking around to see who had said it. America was still filming England and France battle to the death, but he was looking directly at Canada—or, to be more correct, _through_ Canada. Hoping to finally get himself noticed, he weakly waved at his brother.

Who, once again, didn't notice him.

"It has been a rong time since he was rast here," Japan commented, also looking through Canada. "He hasn't been here arr year."

"Eh?" Canada gasped, jumping up from his seat. "W-what? I've been here the whole—!"

"Wow, what a lame-ass brother," America grumbled, continuing to glare _through_ him. "I mean, I'm here all the time! He hasn't been here once!"

"I've been here more often than you!" Canada cried, waving one arm around frantically as the other kept a firm hold on Kumajarino. "You were gone five times! Plus you're always late and eating and—"

"He gets his laziness from you!" England yelled from the sidelines, giving a sharp uppercut to France's face.

"Well, who do you think _I_ got it from, stupid limey?" America retorted.

"I didn't get it from either of you!" Canada yelled as he stomped his foot, frustrated. "I've been here every stupid meeting since World War—!"

"Whoa, dude, did anyone else feel that?" America asked, looking at the floor. "Ii just shook. Dude, is there and earthquake or something going on?"

"NO!" Canada yelled. "It's me, you stupid douchebag! IT'S ME!"

"Huh, it stopped," America said, still looking at the ground. "Huh, that was weird. Anyways, yeah, Canada is such a loser!"

Canada wanted nothing more than to walk over to his brother and punch him in the face, but he knew he was too kind natured for that. He was about to just sit down and maybe take a nap—like anyone would care—when France and England finally stopped their dispute.

"I do have to say," England said, sporting a bloody nose, "out of all the colonies, Canada is the one that has probably done the least."

Canada's jaw dropped at this. England was tearing him down too? "I've done plenty!" Canada argued, glaring at his big brother. "I mean, I've… I… I made the zipper! And I made hockey really popular! And… and…" Sadly, he ran out of things he had done far too quickly. "I… I'm not…"

"He's completely useless!"

It felt like someone had punched him in the stomach. _Useless._ No, no! He wasn't useless! He was important, he really was! So what if people couldn't hear or see him? So what if he himself couldn't use all five fingers on a hand to name off important things he had done? So what if, out of all of the countries, he had done the least amount of "important" things? So what if no one knew or cared who he was?

He couldn't just be useless.

"I'm done," Canada muttered, walking away from his chair—not that anyone cared or noticed. "I'm sick of this. I'm done. I'm done! I'M—!"

"I AM AWESOME!" That was what Canada heard right before he got hit directly in the face with the door he had just been about to open.

Today was the worst day of his life.

x-x-x-x-x

When Prussia had slammed the doors to the World Conference open, he had expected to have the doors slam against the walls as he screamed "_I am awesome!"_ only making his entrance more dramatic. One door did slam against the wall, but the other stopped halfway with a loud _thunk_. Once he had gotten the desired reaction from West ("What the hell, Prussia?") he peeked behind the door to see what had stopped the door from hitting the wall. He had been expecting a doorstop or something like that, something that made sense.

He hadn't been expecting to see a guy on the floor holding his face while he was crying.

"Whoa, sorry whoever you are!" Prussia said, giving an awesome wave. The guy stayed on the floor, but peeked through his fingers to look at him. Seeing as he needed some encouragement, Prussia added "Hey, just get up, walk it off like a man!" Because everyone knows that awesome people encourage others by being manly and indifferent!

However, his encouragement only seemed to make the guy go from looking curious to looking pissed off. "Sh-shut up!" he said, glaring at him while he sat up. "Don't tell me what to do, I don't even know who you are!"

Something felt like it had just died in Prussia. "_WAS_?" he yelled, pulling the man up by his shoulders, making him jolt in surprise. "You don't know who I am? B-but, how? I'm ME! I'm the source of all that is awesome! If you look in the dictionary for 'awesome' you see a picture of me! I. Am! _Awesome_!"

This rant only resulted in a glare from the man who was obviously not awesome enough to have Prussia remember his name. "Wow. You sound just like America. In other words, a douche."

"Hey, who're you calling a shower?" Prussia argued back, quickly getting annoyed with this no-name loser. First he doesn't know who he is; now he's using random German? What is up with this guy?

"Um… Prussia?"

Prussia looked up at West, weirded out by his tone. "Wazzup, West?" he asked, still holding the un-awesome country by the shoulders.

West was looking at him as if he had gone completely insane. "Prussia… just who are you talking to?"

Prussia stared back at him, confused by how he didn't know who he was yelling at. "I'm yelling at this guy!" he said, shaking the mystery country by the shoulders, making him tense as his face became more uncomfortable. "Who is he anyway?"

Germany continued to look at him as if he had gone insane—which was impossible; he was too awesome to go insane! "Prussia… no one's there. Are you okay?"

"Huh? But West—"

"They can't see me."

Prussia returned his stare to the no-name country, cocking his head curiously. "Huh?" he said. "Whaddaya mean they can't see you?"

"I mean I'm invisible," the no-name said, refusing to make eye contact as his dark blue eyes looked down at the floor. "I mean they don't see me, because I'm me. Because I'm a stupid, useless hoser who's never done anything worthwhile in his whole entire life." The guy started crying again, making Prussia uncomfortable. Guys totally don't cry—do they?

"Uhh," he said uncertainly, not sure what to do. Even with his incredible awesomeness, he didn't know what to do when another grown man was crying. "Hey, uh… stop that… you."

The country glared at him through his tears. "My name," he growled, "is _Canada_."

Finally, the name clicked. "Canada?" he repeated curiously. "As in _the_ Canada? As in the second largest country on earth Canada?"

"Canadia?" America chimed in, sounding confused. "What, you know where my slacker, lame-ass brother is?"

Canada stiffened, his face becoming tense. He flashed the middle finger at his American brother as he shook off Prussia's grip and ran past him. "Damn hosers!" he cried as he ran from the room.

Prussia watched the small country run off, a little confused. How had no one noticed him? He would have gone after him, but he turned to see just why everyone was staring at him like he had lost it.

"So, you know where Canadia is?" America asked again, tilting his head to the side. "Seriously, the guy never comes. It's starting to annoy me."

Prussia raised an awesome eyebrow. "You seriously didn't see him? He was here the whole time."

"Huh?" America said, sounding dumbfounded. "Wait, for reals? Dude, the guy needs to speak up for himself then. Damn."

Prussia's awesome eyebrow arched up even more. "Uh. He was yelling at you. A lot." It was his turn to look at the countries like they had lost it. How had they not seen or heard him?

"Either way," West interrupted, looking extremely irritated at everyone, "we need to return to the meeting." He gave a particularly venomous glare to France and England, the two of them in turn quickly returning to their seats as to not be beaten by the upset German. Now that they were seated, West aimed his glare at Prussia. "Which also means that you need to leave."

"_Was_?" Prussia asked, giving West an unimpressed stare. "Aw, c'mon, _bruder_! Can't I stay? I'm totally awesome enough to chill here with you guys!"

"You aren't a country, Prussia."

The simple phrase felt like a knife in the chest. Okay, yeah, sure, he hadn't been a country for a really long time. But it still hurt for people to just say it so… so matter-of-fact-ly like that. "Please, West?" Prussia asked again, totally not begging—he was too awesome to beg.

Germany pointed to the door with a cold glare. "Out. You don't belong here. You're not one of us. All you are now is a representation of a country that _used_ to exist. Nothing more."

That felt like the figurative knife had just been twisted. West had the horrible tendency to be blunt. This was one of those moments.

"Whatever," Prussia growled, glaring at his little brother. "These meetings always sucked anyway. You guys don't deserve my awesome presence." With a last look of disappointment, Prussia turned and left, slamming the doors closed behind him.

That was most certainly _not_ awesome. At all. Prussia's countryhood had ended a long time, and he had more or less gotten used to that. But he had just been forced out by his own brother! What the hell was up with that? He was too awesome to be told to leave like that! Way too awesome.

He kicked at the floor, leaving a scuff mark on the fine tile. So what if he wasn't a country anymore? So what if he didn't really have any power anymore? So what if he wasn't taken seriously? So what if people didn't like him? He was still awesome.

…Wasn't he?

"Dammit," Prussia hissed to himself, tightly crossing his arms. He hadn't felt this depressed for such a long time. He hadn't been utterly rejected like that for even longer. It really hurt. He turned around a corner, trying to find a place to sulk a little. However, upon turning, he found that someone else had already decided to sulk here.

Canada sat on the floor, his back against the wall and his arms around his legs as his chin was balanced on his knees. His dark blue eyes looked up to Prussia for a moment, but then looked back down at the floor. "What is it?" he murmured, his voice quiet and squeaky.

"They were being lame," Prussia complained, too awesome to admit he'd been completely rejected too. He slid down the wall to sit down next to Canada, sitting in the same pouty position that Canada was in. "They're a bunch of idiots. Totally don't deserve my presence."

For a while, Canada didn't say anything. Prussia peered out of the corner of his eye to see if the country was listening to him. He turned his head the rest of the way as he saw Canada's bewildered face. The guy looked at him like it was the first time anyone had tried to have a conversation with him. But, as he thought about what had happened earlier, he wouldn't be surprised if it _was _weird for him to actually have someone talk to him.

Upon making eye contact, Canada blushed slightly, quickly turning his head, making his light brown hair sway violently. Prussia smirked slightly, laughing at the small county's shyness. The two remained quiet for a while longer until Canada finally spoke. "Yeah… they are idiots, aren't they?"

"Totally!" Prussia agreed, crossing his arms. "I mean, I'm way too awesome for them to ignore! I mean, sure, I'm not really a country, but… I'm still pretty important!"

"And I _am_ a country," Canada said, looking down at the floor. "I mean, okay, I haven't done as much as they have… and maybe I don't really have a good army. And sure, maybe I am kind of weak compared to them. But… but I still helped a lot! I… I mean… okay, maybe America and England do most of the work and get all the glory, but… but…" His voice trailed off, an air of gloom growing around him. He buried his face against his knees, letting out a sad sigh. "I'm… I'm not useless. I can't be."

Prussia looked at Canada, actually feeling sorry for him. He was the second largest country in the world, yet he was completely ignored. He actually wished he could do something to help. Maybe if some of his awesomeness could rub off on him, maybe…

Prussia's head shot up as an awesome idea occurred to him.

"So, we both have a problem," Prussia blurted out, making Canada jump. "You completely lack any skills in being awesome and are more or less a complete loser." Canada scowled at him, looking like he was sinking farther into the floor. Seeing this, Prussia quickly continued. "But even though you're a total loser, you're still a country! Me, I'm completely and utterly awesome in every way possible! Hell, I'm even awesome in _im_possible ways! But even with all of that, I'm not a country anymore."

Canada looked at him thoughtfully, a curious look on his face. "Okay," he said. "So, what are you getting at, eh?"

Prussia smirked. "How about this? I'll give you lessons on how to be awesome! You'll need a few lessons from the awesome me, and then everyone will be paying attention to you in no time!"

Canada's face lit up, his dark blue eyes looking hopeful for the first time. "R-really?" he said, sounding like he thought it was too good to be true. "You… you'd really do that?"

"If you return the favor of course," Prussia said with a wink. "You have to promise me when you're as awesome as me, you'll help me become a country again! Then I can gain all my power back!"

Canada looked down at the floor between them as he seemed to be thinking it over. After a few moments of consideration, he looked back up. "Before I make a deal with you," he said, "it'd be nice to know your name."

Prussia cocked his head, then scratched his head embarrassedly. "Oh, never did tell ya my name, did I?" Canada shook his head slightly, a small shy smile on his face. "Right. The name's Prussia! But you can call me Gilbert if ya want!"

Canada nodded, giving him a warmer smile. "Well… like I said. I'm Canada. But… I guess… if you wanted to, you could call me Matthew." He blushed slightly, looking back down at the floor. "B-but, I mean… only if you want to of course… Y-you don't have to if you don't want…"

"Sure, Mattie!" Prussia said with a laugh, smacking him happily on the back. Canada flinched slightly, squeaking at the violent affection. But that's how awesome people communicated with friends—violence and manly indifference!

After Canada had recovered from his amazing amount of awesome friendliness, he looked at Prussia with a curious expression. "I do have another question," he said timidly, looking slightly nervous.

"Shoot," Prussia said, giving an awesome smirk.

"Well… are you wearing contacts…? Or are your eyes really… really that red?"

Okay. He hadn't been expecting that question. Though he wasn't surprised he was asking. Having such an awesome eye color did raise a lot of questions from people. "One hundred and one percent real," he answered, enjoying Canada's impressed expression. "I know, awesome, right?"

"Yeah. They are actually."

Ba-dump!

Whoa. _Really_ hadn't been expecting that. Usually Prussia would always talk about how amazingly awesome he was, and people would just tell him to shut up or say that he wasn't awesome but that he was annoying and stuck up. Never had someone actually _agreed_ with him. He hadn't been expecting that. So, obviously with him being as awesome as he was, he _was not_ blushing. At all. Don't even think it, 'cuz he wasn't.

"So," Prussia said, jumping back up. "How about we start your awesome lessons of awesome?"

Canada looked up at him, wide-eyed. "Seriously?" he asked, looking almost shocked. "You want to start them? Now?"

Prussia smirked down at him, finding his hesitancy and surprise…what's the word? Endearing? Sure, let's go with that. "Sure! Why not?"

Canada continued to stare up at him for a moment, his eyes looking awestruck. Finally, a smile broke across his face. "Okay," he said, standing up next to Prussia. "Let's do it."

Prussia smiled at him. "You'll be awesome in no time!" he announced, proceeding to lead them out. He knew with his awesome influence, this no-name loser of a country would quickly rise up in the world. Hell, he'd probably be even stronger than America after he was done with him! Then, then he'd finally be a country again!

But for some reason he was starting to get the strange feeling that, even if he didn't get all of that, he'd still like this shy, reclusive, ignored Canadian loser.

Well, if said Canadian continued to agree with him about how he was awesome, why wouldn't he like him?

x-x-x-x-x

Yay, first chapter done! :D I do like this pairing now… they're pretty cute. :3

I'm not completely used to Prussia's character yet though… I'm expecting him to speak some German, but his whole "I am awesome!" attitude reminds me of America, so I make him use some slang. I've never written with him before, so I'm a little nervous. If you see something I can improve/add to his character, let me know! Help would be very much appreciated!

Thanks for reading and please review! :D


	2. Lesson 1: Self Esteem

Thanks for the reviews and alerts everyone! :D It is a little different though… I'm so used to writing USUK… but now I adore PruCan as well! :D I mean, I started writing this, and it went from being a pairing I was kind of okay with to… one of my absolute favorites. :D I just hope you guys continue to like it!

And sorry for the delay! I just got done with semester, so I should be able to update much more often now that school's out of the way! :D Or at least I hope… for some reason I actually have a social life now… it's so weird. XD

Anyways, without further ado, here is chapter two! Enjoy!

x-x-x-x-x

Canada set his things down as he heard Prussia walking around, making random comments everywhere he went. When they had first been talking, Canada had thought that his lessons were going to take place in Prussia's house, but the odd ex-country had decided that they should do it at the Canadian's house instead. Canada had asked why they weren't going to go to Prussia's house—he didn't want to inconvenience Prussia if he was already going to be this nice—but Prussia didn't give much of an explanation. Not wanting to be bothersome or pry into his life, he let the subject drop.

"You like maple leafs a lot, don't you?" Prussia commented, pointing to a patch of wall colored orangey-red by a countless amount of maple leafs.

Canada looked at the wall with a smile on his face, then dropped his eyes, blushing slightly. "W-well, they are my national symbol. I like them. They kind of remind me of who I am I guess."

Prussia nodded, still looking at the maple leafs adorning the wall before him. "That makes sense I guess," he said. "My national symbol is… er, was the Prussian Eagle." He reached under the collar of his shirt and pulled on a chain. Hanging from the silver chain was a black eagle, its wings spread wide and its head turned to the side in profile, its beak opened in what looked like a fearsome screech. "Still love the symbol. It represents power. I mean, I used to own parts of nearly all of Europe. Hungary, Austria, the Baltic States, Belgium, Italy—hell, I even owned part of Russia! Me and Germany used to beat the crap out of everyone! I was a force to be reckoned with! Like I said, only reason I'm not a country anymore is because people thought I was becoming way too awesome!" He let himself chuckle a little, putting the eagle back beneath his clothing.

Canada stared at him for a moment, amazed by how much power he used to have. He felt inferior as he looked back on how the only reason he had even been born was because France found him. Then he had been taken over by Britain after the Seven Years War. The only reason he had become what he was now was because of Britain and how the Brit had been the world's superpower for over a century. Without him, he would have remained just a small, useless colony. As he thought about it, if Britain hadn't been there to regulate him—he couldn't call what he had done 'taking care of him' seeing as that sounded too loving for what it had really been—he would have just been taken over by America while he had been expanding from coast to coast. He bit his lip slightly as he looked down at the floor. He had only become what he was through the actions of others. He'd barely done anything on his own.

"So, what do your maple leafs represent?"

Canada jumped slightly, emerging from his thoughts and memories, not expecting the sudden question. No one had ever really asked what his maple leaf meant to him. Heck, no one ever really asked him any questions about himself in general. He was usually lucky if someone even noticed he was in a room. "Um, well," he started, scratching his head in thought, "as a nation, I try to stay neutral. I'm kind of the peacemaker of the world I suppose. I don't like fights, so I stay out of them. I don't like hurting people, so I stay calm and don't retaliate. I like to make people happy, so I try to be fair and equal so everyone can be happy."

Prussia looked him over again, looking actually fascinated. Which was something that Canada was not used to at all. "Wow," he said, sounding awed.

"Well," Canada said, looking away embarrassedly, "I mean, it's nothing too—"

"No wonder no one thinks you're awesome."

Self-esteem: Canada's had just once again been put back into its place as it was crushed underfoot. "E-eh?" he said, looking back up.

Prussia suddenly looked extremely unimpressed. "It sounds like you just let people walk all over you. Neutral? Peacemaker? Those are all synonymous of lame and weak! Which is the complete opposite of awesome! Which is me!"

Self-esteem: Canada hadn't known that it could be crushed even more. Prussia was really capable of anything, wasn't he?

"I, I'm not weak!" Canada argued. "I'm nearly as strong as America! W-well… I mean, when I want to be. It's just I don't want to be a strong hoser like him."

Prussia once again looked interested. "What, seriously?" he asked. "You're almost as strong as America? That guy's scary strong!"

Canada averted his eyes. "Yeah. I'm pretty strong. It's just I don't like showing off like he does."

Prussia smirked, making the Canadian nervous. "Well, it's time to show off," he said.

"E-eh?" Prussia suddenly began wandering around again, looking around everywhere as if looking for something. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for something for you to lift or something," he answered. Canada gawked at him as he continued to furiously look around.

"B-but Prussia," he complained, reaching his hand out slightly as if to stop him. "I really don't want to."

"Aw, come on, Mattie!" Prussia chirped, flashing a smile at him. "I want to see how awesome you and your strength are!"

Canada really didn't feel like doing random weight lifting—it sounded too much like something America would do. "Can't we just start my lessons?" Canada pleaded.

"But I want to see you lift something!" Prussia whined.

For a moment, Canada was about to give up. But then he came up with an idea. "Hey, you want to be a country again, right?"

Prussia immediately perked up, flashing his gaze back to Canada. "Hell yeah!" he said with a huge smile. "More than anything!"

"Then we should just start my lessons," Canada reasoned. "The sooner I become awesome, the sooner you can become a country again."

He could immediately tell that he had struck the money with Prussia. He quickly stopped looking around and walked back up to Canada. "Okay, then," he said, a smirk on his face. "Then let's work on making you as awesome as me!"

_About time_, Canada thought to himself. Prussia was nearly as hard to handle as his brother. "Okay." Canada said. "Where do we start?"

Not asking for permission—though Canada supposed he technically didn't need it seeing as he was providing lessons—Prussia plopped down on Canada's couch, crossing his arms as if for dramatic effect. "Alright, first lesson," he said, his red eyes looking up to the left as if in deep thought. "To be awesome, you have to have confidence! A kind of confidence that makes everyone around go, 'Whoa! That guy's pretty damn awesome!'" He paused, eyeing Canada as if to read his expression. "And to have confidence," he added, "you need this awesome thing called self-esteem!"

The words 'Canada' and 'self-esteem' weren't often paired together. So as Prussia suggested this, Canada was rather surprised. Self-esteem? How was he supposed to have any of that?

"How do you build self-esteem?" he asked, completely unsure of how to make such a thing. Whenever he had tried to have one, he'd be reminded by America how weak and pathetic he was compared to him. Because of this, had absolutely no idea where to even start.

"It's easy!" Prussia said matter-of-factly. "Just name off some awesome things about yourself! What makes you, you?"

An immediate blank came to Canada's mind. What was there that was awesome about him? "Uhh," he said, looking down at the ground as nothing came to mind.

He felt Prussia eying him curiously, but, to Canada's relief, he continued, "Well, something like this! My name's Gilbert Beilschmidt, and I was able to beat the crap out of most of Europe! And I taught Germany all that he knows today! Plus I was a huge world power before the other countries decided they didn't like me too much. I mean, I could beat the crap out of anyone I wanted and no one could stop me! I was awesome!" Prussia almost glowed with pride, making Canada shrink as he heard all of those marvelous things about him. How could he come up with anything like that?

"Uhm, o-okay," Canada said, still looking at the floor as if it would give him ideas. "Um… I'm Canada, or… Matthew… Matthew Williams. And… um, I'm the second largest country in the world. Um… I'm really good at hockey. I mean, I can even beat America when it comes to hockey." He was especially proud of that fact—he was actually better than America at something. Suddenly, a door in his mind opened, and thoughts began bombarding him. "Oh! And, and when America was becoming independent from England, he treated people who didn't agree with him horribly! So when they didn't want to deal with him anymore, they came to me! People left America because I was safer! Ha! And when America was being a hoser and had slaves, they would run away to me too! I was the only safe place! And in 1814, I helped burn down his capital! He was thinking I was going to join him, but I didn't want to join him because he's a jerk! So, so I told him to screw himself and burned down his capital with England! And I was fighting in World War One _and_ Two way before America was! America was being stupid and being all like, 'No, I don't wanna help, that takes too much effort!' and while he was being lazy and stupid, I was actually out there fighting! Plus I'm nicer and safer than America! I mean, every day you hear about someone trying to kill someone else in America, but in Canada, that never happens! Because I'm way better than that hoser! I really am!"

By the end of his rant, Canada was actually out of breath. He'd never talked so long and so excitedly about something. He looked back up at Prussia, and felt his heart thump especially hard as Prussia actually looked impressed. Finally, he spoke. "You and America don't get along too well, do you?"

Huh. He'd never really been asked that before. Most of the time, he was lucky if people didn't think he himself was America. "Um," he murmured, looking back at the floor. "Well. I mean, he's my brother and I still love him. But sometimes it's just hard for us to get along with each other. He gets too preoccupied with how amazing he is, he forgets about me."

Prussia gave a half smile at this. "I can understand that."

For a second, Canada had no idea how he could understand that. But then he remembered how, on the way to his home, Prussia had told him that Germany was his younger brother. His younger brother who became a huge superpower and was still a very influential country. Canada tried to think about what it would be like to have America—his younger brother by only three days—be the huge country he was while Canada just faded out of existence.

The thought absolutely terrified him.

"What is it like to not be a country anymore?" Canada wondered out loud before he could stop himself. He slapped his hand to his mouth and gazed wide-eyed at Prussia. "Oh maple, I'm sorry… that… that was rude of me. I'm sorry."

Prussia looked at him curiously, a mixture of emotions displayed on his face—confused, slightly surprised, a little… was that embarrassment? "Well," he said, scratching his head slightly, ruffling his silver hair, "it's… it's different. I mean, I still do stuff. I sometimes rent video games, sometimes I practice playing guitar and awesome things like that. I even tried making a motorcycle gang—with just me! …Didn't turn out like I thought, but it was awesome while it lasted. But while I can do those kinds of things, I can't do a lot of the things I used to. Can't make laws, can't fight in wars, can't do anything in politics. I can't even step foot in the meetings without getting yelled at." He cleared his throat slightly, but then a smile took over his face. "But I'm way too awesome to get depressed by that! I can still do awesome things without being a country! Plus people don't even bug me anymore! And I'm a loner anyway, so it's kind of nice sometimes."

Canada nodded slowly, his eyes shifting over to the side. "Do you… change when you go from being a country to a… a non-nation?"

Prussia paused and thought for a moment, tapping his chin lightly in thought. "Ja," he answered. "Nations are immortal and really hard to kill. And if you do somehow 'kill' them, they come back. But ex-nations are like people. They're still more durable than normal people; but… but we die. And when we die, we die for good. Nothing about regression or being reborn… just… dead." He looked up after his explanation, and Canada, tried to hide his expression from him. But from the look on Prussia's face, he knew he had failed. "You alright?" Prussia asked.

Canada frantically nodded, which seemed to make Prussia even more doubtful. "Yes, I'm okay," he quickly said. "It's just… it's a lot different from what I thought. I can't even think of being able to die… it's just… I mean…"

"Scary shit?"

Canada's head shot up, looking at Prussia's expression. Even though he had only known him for a few hours, he could already read him fairly well. Prussia had said it with a smile on his face, but his red eyes looked a little darker; less happy than before. "Yeah," Canada answered silently, keeping his eyes on him. "Really scary."

Prussia nodded, only making his smile grow somehow. "Ja, it can be pretty scary sometimes. But I've fought in tons of wars and stuff! I can handle myself. I know how to beat someone to death while barely even trying! So I don't think I have to worry about anything!"

Canada offered a small smile, then looked down at the floor once again. "I've… I've wondered what it would be like to stop being a country. I mean, I'm really big, so it would be hard to do, but… I don't have that much power. I don't have much of an army, my police force only makes people laugh, and all people really know me for is bacon and moose. I've never done anything really influential, and I've never been very strong. So I just have to wonder sometimes… America surrounds me, and Russia is really close to me too. What… what if one day they just decided to invade me? What if one day they just attacked me and…and…" He tightly clutched his slightly quivering hands together, staring down at the ground, not wanting to look Prussia in the eyes. How weak and pathetic he felt. He was the second largest country in the world, yet he was so vulnerable. He was such a disgrace.

He jumped slightly as he felt both of his shoulders gripped hard, his head shooting up to see Prussia's red eyes looking into his. "If they try anything," Prussia said, his face strong and determined, "then I'll beat both of their asses. Country or not, I can still fight. They won't touch you, Mattie. I promise."

_Ba-dump._

Canada stared at Prussia, feeling a blush crawl up his neck and face as he realized that Prussia was being serious. He was seriously promising to protect him. Not able to help himself, he let a smile spread itself across his lips. "Thank you, Prussia."

It seemed that Prussia suddenly realized what he was doing. His face slightly coloring, he released the Canadian's shoulders and backed up. "J-ja, no problem," he said, scratching his head awkwardly. "I mean, you can't become awesome if you get beat up, right? Just makes sense."

Smiling, Canada just nodded as he turned towards the kitchen. "Do you want anything to eat or drink?" he asked. "I can get you anything if you'd like."

For a moment, Prussia kept standing awkwardly as if he still wasn't quite sure if he had just done what he had or not. After another moment of consideration, he smiled and walked towards him. "Sure! Food sounds awesome right now! You have any wurst?"

"Huh? 'Versed'?" Canada asked curiously, arching an eyebrow. Then after a moment, he said, "Oh! Wurst! Sorry, no, I don't have any. I do have maple sausage though… it's the closest thing I have to it."

Prussia looked at him curiously. "Maple sausage?" he repeated. "Sounds weird… I'll try it though."

Canada smiled, and turned to head for the kitchen. "Okay. I hope you enjoy the food. I know that many people find it odd, but it's not too different from America's." Under his breath, he quickly added, "Though mine's better."

For some reason, Canada was really hoping that Prussia would like his food. He'd never felt such pressure to impress anyone before. But as he continued to walk forward, he felt his heart pump uncomfortably hard. He was sure it was just because he wasn't used to the attention. It had to be just something simple like that. Nothing more.

Though, as he got to know Prussia more and more, the more fascinating the ex-country became. But surely the more the Prussian got to know him, he had to be becoming even more boring. What could ever be interesting about him?

x-x-x-x-x

Prussia sat in fascination as he watched Mattie cook at his stove, taking care of two pans at one time. One hand was flipping what was similar to a crepe—Prussia had already forgotten what he had called them—while the other was taking care of what Mattie had called maple sausage. While little Mattie always looked so unsure and shy, when he was at the stove cooking, his expression was focused and almost intimidating. His long blond hair was held back slightly, only a small strand still hanging down in front of his face. The only person he could compare his focus to was his own brother. Rarely did he ever see such dedication in anything.

With what looked like barely any effort, Mattie gripped the pan with the crepe in it and flicked it with his wrist, sending it into the air. Barely even looking at it, he moved the pan appropriately, making it so that the crepe landed directly in the center of the pan once more. Prussia couldn't help but continue to stare at him, wondering how he was able to do such things without even seeming to think. He had to admit, his cooking skills were amazingly awesome. His own cooking skills paled in comparison.

Mattie seemed to finish up what he was doing as he flipped the pan over, making the crepe land safely on a plate filled with others. He then grabbed up the plate and the other skillet and brought them over to where Prussia was sitting. "Sorry for the wait," Mattie said, giving a shy smile. "Pancakes take a while to make. I hope you like them even though."

Prussia looked at the plate of 'pancakes' then back up to Mattie. "No problem," he said. "It was pretty entertaining watching you make them."

Mattie looked at him curiously, a slight blush rising up in his cheeks. "You… you were watching me?"

With a laugh, Prussia nodded. "Ja! I never thought someone could be so into cooking. You kind of made making crepes look badass."

Mattie arched an eyebrow, more blood going up towards his face. "Badass?" he questioned. "I… I was just making pancakes… what was so amazing about that?"

Prussia looked at him as if the answer was extremely obvious—because to him, it was. "You were barely looking at the skillets while you were cooking. You just did it. It didn't even look like you had to think about anything. Even I, the Awesome Prussia, can't do something like that."

Somehow, Mattie just shrugged it off as he set the food on the table. "It's… it's nothing too amazing. I mean… it's just cooking. France is much better than I am. If you put me and France next to each other in a kitchen, you wouldn't be interested in anything I do at all. I learned everything from him, but he hasn't even shown me all of his secrets. I'm just an amateur compared to him."

"And compared to you, I'm complete scheiße," Prussia retorted. Mattie was about to open his mouth to argue, but Prussia stood up before he could say anything, stepping forward so that their noses almost touched. Canada's eyes widened, stepping back clumsily as his glasses slid down his nose slightly. "You see, this is why no one thinks you're awesome, Mattie," Prussia lectured, taking another step closer because of Mattie's attempt of escape. "You don't take compliments and you don't stand up for yourself. To be awesome, you have to actually _think_ you're awesome. You know, self-esteem?"

Mattie's face was red, but he silently nodded as his dark blue eyes shifted from side to side as if he didn't quite know where to look. Prussia didn't back off though, even though he knew how awkward the other was feeling with so little space between them. "Come on, Mattie. Just a while ago you were on a roll with things that made you awesome. Then I start complementing you and you totally shoot them down. You have to learn how to accept compliments. Otherwise you'll never be awesome."

"…S-sorry," Mattie murmured, looking down at the floor. "I… j-just don't…I…never really… get compliments is all… N-not used to them…"

Finally, Prussia backed off, sensing that their proximity was getting to Mattie. He calmly sat back down in his chair and gestured for the other to join him. "Well, you deserve more compliments in my opinion. You may not think it, but you do seem like a pretty cool person. You just need to make it so other people can see that side of you."

Mattie stared down at him, looking both concerned and awed. After a moment, he seemed to realize that he was staring as he quickly shook his head and also sat down with Prussia. "Well…erm… th-thank you, Prussia."

Prussia smiled. If nothing else, at least this was a start. "_Nichts zu danken."_

Deciding he'd said enough on the matter, Prussia reached forward and grabbed a crepe—or whatever they were called; he still couldn't quite remember the name Mattie had for them—and a few pieces of the maple sausage. He put the fake wurst off to the side for now and glared at the crepe. "What do I put on it?" he asked. His crepes from home were usually topped with powdered sugar and jam, but these looked much different from what he was used to.

"Here," Mattie said as he reached to the other end of the table and pulled a bottle towards them. "Here's maple syrup. And not the nasty fake kind that my brother makes. This is actually maple in here. Nothing artificial or American about it."

Prussia nodded slightly as he took the maple from the Canadian and screwed off the top of the bottle. He poured a generous amount onto the crepes, then handed it back to the Canadian who held it like it was a precious child. Cutting off a small section of the food, he looked it over once more before he put it in his mouth. He could feel Mattie's eyes on him, watching every facial and body movement.

He would have laughed at this if he hadn't been so preoccupied with the food inside of his mouth.

Mattie looked horrified as he watched Prussia chew, the German's face almost expressionless. After a few more moments, he finally swallowed and looked at the Canadian. "W-well?" he asked, wringing his hands. "Was it okay?"

Prussia shrugged. "No, it wasn't okay."

Mattie flinched and looked like he was about to start apologizing.

"It was _awesome_!"

Now Mattie was just staring at him, his dark blue eyes wide. "W-what?" he asked as if he wasn't sure he could believe what he was hearing. "You… you liked it? Really?"

"Hell yeah!" Prussia answered, flashing a huge smile. "These are seriously really good! I wish I could have tried them before! I'm definitely going to eat these more often!"

Mattie blushed, looking down at the table. "Wow… thank you. I… I thought I was the only one who liked them. America always makes fun of me for liking them so much. So… so thank you."

Prussia smiled as he reached over and ruffled the blonde's hair. "No problem, Mattie." He continued to eat, only slightly aware of how the Canadian was looking at him after the affectionate display. However, after a few more bites, he abrupt;y added, "And call me Gilbert. Feels weird that I'm using your human name and you're only using my country name."

Mattie looked a little surprised, but looked away as he slightly blushed. "But I've only known you for today really… it'd just feel weird calling you your actual name when I barely know you."

"Don't be so formal!" Prussia argued, pointing his fork at him. "Being formal is for losers!"

Mattie looked down at the table, his eyes flicking from side to side. "I'm just used to being formal… I'm not comfortable with anything else."

Prussia was going to continue to argue, but he just shrugged it off in the end. The kid had plenty more time to learn. It was just the first day after all, and becoming awesome was a long process for people that weren't born awesome like he was.

"So," Prussia said as he grabbed another crepe, "let's keep on working on that self-esteem of yours. Tell me more."

x-x-x-x-x

Yay, a little bit of fluff this chapter. (: And I really hope this doesn't just seem like a bunch of randomness so far… I liked the first half of this chapter, but the second half… meh. It feels like filler. It does have to do with the rest of the story, but it seems slightly tedious to me. But I hope you liked it nonetheless!

Please review! Mattie will make you pancakes if you do! They have the Prussian stamp of approval! ;D


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